Linux gets security boost from NSA

Wednesday, 25 February 2004, 1:09 AM EST

Most stories about government deployments of Linux involve a distributor helping various federal and municipal agencies install the open source operating system. But in this case, a federal agency is helping Linux.

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), also known as the codemakers and codebreakers cryptologic division within the Department of Defense, has helped to harden Linux with newly-released Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) kernel modifications.

The latest release, which updates the base kernel to 2.6.3 and 2.4.24, contains numerous significant improvements to security in the open source operating system. The SELinux improvements mark a major breakthrough for Linux. Because of the NSA's contributions to the kernel, the new security features will now show up in mainstream distributions of Linux.

By Sean Michael Kerner at internetnews.

[ Read more ]

Related items





Spotlight

IT security jobs: What's in demand and how to meet it

Posted on 15 May 2013.  |  Let's say you want a career in information security, where do you start? What credentials do you need? What are employers looking for? Read on to find some answers.


Daily digest

By subscribing to our early morning news update, you will receive a daily digest of the latest security news published on Help Net Security.
  

Weekly newsletter

With over 500 issues so far, reading our newsletter every Monday morning will keep you up-to-date with security risks out there.
  

 
DON'T
MISS

Fri, May 17th
    COPYRIGHT 1998-2013 BY HELP NET SECURITY.   // READ OUR PRIVACY POLICY // ABOUT US // ADVERTISE //